Method of making a flexible closure

ABSTRACT

A method for attaching strips such as those having an interlocking profile thereon to a laminated sheet of plastic wherein the sheet is preheated by passing it over a heated roller and then passed over a heated joining roll having a nip formed with a pressure roll and feeding a freshly extruded hot strip into the nip and onto the sheet and thereafter applying localized cooling after the strip.

@nited States Patent Noguchi Sept. 9, 1975 [54] METHOD OF MAKING A FLEXIBLE 3,034,941 5/1962 Hessenthaler et a1. 156 244 CLOSURE 3,057,539 10 1962 Leary 156 244 3,116,194 12 1963 Looser 156 244 [75] Inventor: Takashi Noguchi, Tokyo, Japan 3,458,377 7/1969 Lucas... 156/244 3,462,332 8/1969 GOtO..... 156/244 [73] Asslgnee- M'ngrplnuorangeburg NY 3,532,571 10/1970 Ausnit 156/244 [22] Filed: Aug. 30, 1973 3,565,737 2 1971 Lefevre et a1... 156 244 3,575,762 4/1971 Goehring et a1. 156/244 21 Appl. NO.Z'392,858 3,775,239 11 1973 Snow 156 244 Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 178,086, Sept. 7, 1971, Pat. No. 3,787,269.

US. Cl. 156/244; 156/498; 156/499;

156/500 Int. Cl. B32B 31/30 Field of Search 156/91, 92, 243, 244, 282,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,715,088 8/1955 Gunning 156/244 2,791,807 5/1957 Morin [56/244 Primary Examiner-Caleb Weston Attorney, Agent, or Firml-li1l, Gros's, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson [5 7] ABSTRACT A method for attaching strips such as those having an interlocking profile thereon to a laminated sheet of plastic wherein the sheet is preheated by passing it over a heated roller and then passed over a heated joining roll having a nip formed with a pressure roll and feeding a freshly extruded hot strip into the nip and onto the sheet and thereafter applying localized cooling after the strip.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures METHOD OF MAKING A FLEXIBLE CLOSURE This is a division of application Ser. No. 178,086, filed Sept. 7, 1971, now US. Pat. No. 3,787,269.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method to join plastic strips of various interlocking fastener means to laminated film continuously and automatically so as to produce therefrom reclosable bags made from said laminated film and fastener strips attached thereto. Conventional reclosable plastic bags featuring various types of plastic fasteners have hereto been used as one of the necessities of modern living because they are, as indicated, reclosable and also very convenient. However, the above mentioned conventional plastic fastener bag consists of a simple combination of fastener means and bag bodies, both of which are formed integrally and at the same time of a single plastic or resin material, for example, polyethelene or polypropelene, because of the requirements of the manufacturing method.

Such reclosable bags formed of a single material are suitably used for the purpose of getting their contents in and out or preserving them therein, but since their material is made from a single sheet and is not absolutely airtight, their use as bags for such goods as medicines or foods, the quality of which might be affected by air or moisture, is not appropriate.

Therefore, in the case of packaging goods where it is necessary to protect their quality, it is desirable that bag bodies be formed of more air impervious laminate films, which may be formed of a lamination of cellophane and/or paper and/or aluminum, etc. together with a resin film such as polyethelene or other plastic. It is nearly impossible in view of the existing production equipment and its operation to produce laminated films and fastener means by the method of extruding both the laminated film and the fastener means at the same time, as in the manufacturing of reclosable bags formed of a single material. Further, the method of laminating another different film on the already formed fastener film also is not desirable because when both are attached together the pressure added thereon by the heating and pressure rolls causes changes in the structural form of the fastener means to take place. Therefore, the method of joining fastener means on to laminated film formed separately, is the most appropriate, in which case there are two methods of proceeding: There are: the use of a binding agent or the method of joining by fusion through heating. The method ofjoining fastener strips, which keep the fusing heat required for joining, by attaching them soon after they are extruded, to the already separately formed laminated film, which itself is reheated, has a weak point in that the completed bags lose value as commercial products, due to the unequal cooling that results from the difference of thickness between the fastener profiles and their web portions and the film to which they are attached, and which produces shrink marks and/or wrinkles on the film near and adjacent the fastener strips. In the case of laminated plastic and aluminum film it also very often happens that the fusing and combining of the film with the fastener is not accomplished perfectly because of the difference between the resin material and the aluminum in their capability of maintaining heat, from the time of heating to the point ofjoining. On account of various difficulties in manufacturing methods full barrier bags consisting of fastener strips attached to laminated film have never been developed up to now, though there are many bags without fastener means made from such laminated film.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of this invention to provide the methods and apparatus to fuse and join the webs of the fastener strips to laminated films continuously and automatically.

A feature of this invention is to prevent the laminated film from shrinking and to keep the construction of the fastener strips within required sizes.

This is done by providing at an appropriate place a heating roll, which gives adequate heat to the laminated film and by then joining the fastener strips which have just been extruded and still retain sufficient extrusion heat, to the laminated film, heated to a fusion temperature by the said heating roll, and thereafter by maintaining the desired differential cooling by emphasizing the cooling of the fastener strips, and their attached webs, which due to their thickness would normally take longer to cool. An embodiment of this invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a mechanism constructed and operating in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing a laminated sheet with fastener strips attached, as a product produced in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a bag formed from the sheet of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a machine body 1 containing therein an apparatus according to this invention, which is attached to a base B. 2 is an apparatus for the unwinding of a roll of film and also fixed to the base B. This apparatus for unwinding a roll of film 2 has a main shaft 3 which can be revolved by an electric motor 5 and the said main shaft 3 is provided with an arm, which is not shown in this drawing, with both ends of this arm being further provided with revolving frames 3a and 3b for winding up the laminated film roll 4 which is separately made.

A tension control roll 6 provided above the apparatus for unwinding the roll of film 2, gives adequate tension to the film moving through, after unwinding. Film F passing through this tension control roll 6 is pulled out by the rotation of a take-up roll 7 installed in the machine body l. Film F is then transferred from the said take-up roll to the heating chamber.

In this heating chamber, the heating roll 11 is installed in the machine body 1, and rotated by a motor 8, via a transmitting axis 9 and a chain 10. The said heating roll 11 rotates and is equipped with a heating system that will allow it to be heated to a desired temperature. Therefore, Film F after being transferred from the above mentioned take-up roll 7 is put on the heating roll 11 and is heated to the desired temperature by contact with the heating roll 11. Now, the heated film F is transferred to a joining roll 13 and is joined with fastener strips C. Further, the above mentioned joining roll 13 is also provided with a heating source and if the film is not fully heated by the heating roll or loses some of its heat while it is being transferred to the joining roll, from the heating roll, the film can be reheated to the desired temperature by said joining roll 13.

A weakened tear line is formed in the laminated film by thinning same or by perforating it with a cutter l2 stationed between the above mentioned heating roll 11 and the joining roll 13. Below the joining roll 13 an extruder 16 that is movable back and forth relative to the surface of said roll, is provided, and fastener strips C are extruded therefrom and joined with film F passing over said joining roll 13 at said joining roll. Thus, the film F is fused with the fastener strips by the joining roll 13 and is then transported over several guide rolls G provided in the machine body 1 to a winding station where it is wound up.

Further, while being transported over the guide rolls G, the portion of the film F that joins the fastener C is strongly cooled by cool air blown out of cooling devices 17 and 18 located near the joining roll. The said cool air is supplied to cooling devices 17 and 18 through a duct 20 from air conditioning equipment 19 provided in the machine body 1.

The drawing also shows a handle 15 which moves a press roll 14, a roll 21 that controls the course by which film F is transferred, and a takeup roll 22. Next, the operation of the above mentioned structure is explained as follows:

The above film having been pulled out of the apparatus 2 used for unwinding a roll of film, is heated before it is combined with the fastener strip C by ajoining roll 13. In the case where both the film and the fastener strips are made from the same resin material, it is not necessary that both of them are heated by the heating roll 11 because both of them can be perfectly fused and combined with each other by simultaneous extrusion.

But, in the case of laminated film it is impossible, as mentioned previously to extrude integrally at the same time both the film and the fastener strips. When the fastener strips are fused and combined continuously with the already fonned laminated film, which is in cooled condition, since it was formed long before, the film must be reheated to the desired temperature by a heating roll 11, as the said film has lost a temperature suitable for fusing and this must now be delivered to it. However, when the above mentioned film F is heated an effective method of handling the film material is required. For example, in order to produce economically, it is necessary to have fast speeds of film passage and of fastener strip extrusion, as well as to make the film suitably hot so as to fuse with the fastener strips as quickly as possible, and accordingly, it is necessary to raise the temperature of the rolls 11. But, some laminated films, for example, polyethelene and cellophane have a little air left between laminations, which will expand with the heat and create a number of bubbles between the laminations of the film. These deteriorate the quality of the film and must be prevented.

Therefore, in order to prevent the surface of the film F from being damaged it is necessary to obtain not only the right temperature for joining the film to the strips, but also a temperature that will prevent the air between the laminations from expanding with heat and maintaining at the same time a rolling speed of the roll that will not impair the efficiency of production.

In some instances, the laminated film needs to be in contact with the heating roll for a longer time, but the rolling speed of the roll should not be decreased or the efficiency of the production will be affected. Also, some film laminations, cannot be combined with the fastener strips because the heat already given to the film is lost before the film can be transported to the joining roll. Therefore, in order to avoid the above mentioned problems, joining roll 13 has its own heating source, which provides a secondary heating of said film, and makes up for the deficiency in the heating of the heating roll 11, so that film F may be moved at high speed and may be given a temperature suitable for fusing with the fastener strips. Especially for those laminated films that have poor heat conduction and heat preservation, a better and more efficient heating can be delivered to such films by having a first heating by heating roll 11 and a secondary heating by joining roll 13. Thus, film F is fused and combined with the fastener strips C at joining roll 13. Through the above mentioned process, though both film and fastener can be combined with each other perfectly, it is often difficult to obtain the desired size of fastener that is suitable for the strength of the film to which it is being attached. Hence, bags manufactured without considering this point are not commercially salable. Therefore, the size of the fastener is related to the potential strength of the film. For example, a bag body made from a laminated film with weak tensile strength that has a fastener with a heavy interlocking element is not desirable, because of the resistance of the fastener against being separated when the bag is opened is stronger than the film adjacent the fastener, so that the film is elongated and damaged, and the bag body form is changed. Therefore, when the film and the fastener are combined, it is necessary to pay carful attention to the above mentioned matter. In order that a bag is provided with the right combination of film and fastener thateliminates the problems that reduce its commercial value, the extruder producing the fastener strips, or the orifice part thereof, should be movable up and down and/or back and forth towards the surface of the joining roll, so that the distance between the opening of said extruder die plate and the joining roll may be adjustable. The movement is indicated by the arrowed line 16a.

At the same time, it should also be possible to select the location point where the film is attached to the fastener by moving the die plate or the orifice part of the extruder to both the right and the left side and in parallel to the joining roll, as shown by the arrowed line 16b. Movement in the direction 160, normal to the axes of the rolls 13 and 14, is also possible. Preferably, only the die portion of the extruder unit is movable for adjustment. The film F with the fastener C made by the above method is then passed through a cooling process. When both the fastener strips and the film F are cooled to the same temperature at the same rate, uneven shrinking and wrinkles will appear on the surface of the film adjacent the fastener and the resultant bags will become imperfect products. This is because, in equal cooling, the rate of cooling is slower in the fastener strip C and around their web portion than in their laminated film, and is due to the fastener strips C and their webs being thicker than the portion of the film to which they are attached. Therefore, in equal cooling the laminated film with its thin plastic layer is cooled at the higher rate than the thick portion of the fastener and its related web and different shrinking takes place between the former and the latter. This results in noticeable shrink marks and/or wrinkles on the surface of the film adjacent the web of the fastener C.

in orde: to prevent such a situation, it is necessary to cool both the fastener and the film at different rates so as to provide more cooling to one than to the other. Therefore, according to this invention the following cooling equipment is provided:

Partial cooling is carried out, that is to say, cool air is blown only against the fastener strips C and their web portions by cooling equipment 17 and 18 located at successive points spaced from the roller 13 to which the film and attached extruded strip are transported away from the heated roller 13. Accordingly, only the portions of film P where the fastener webs are attached are cooled as they move over the guide rolls G and are thereby kept at almost the same temperature as the other adjacent thin portion of the film against which no fastener heat is applied. Thus, it is possible to prevent,

shrink marks and wrinkles from being created on the film. Thus, also, according to the method and apparatus for this invention, it is now possible to fuse and combine fastener strips, etc. with laminated films continuously, automatically and at high speeds, and to mass produce and supply inexpensive reclosable good quality plastic bags made from different laminate barrier films having a greater range of protection for the products contained therein, though this was not technically feasible heretofore. Further, since the main structure of this apparatus consists of a mechanism which includes in specific combinations a heating roll, a heated joining roll, special cooling equipment and a special method of moving the extrusion equipment, economical production of laminated reclosable bags is now possible. Since the preheating necessary to fuse and combine fasteners to laminated film can now be suitably given to film, the said apparatus is applicable to all kinds of laminate films. In addition, the above mentioned special cooling prevents the film to which the fastener is attached from abnormally shrinking or wrinkling. There are the features of this invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a sheet 30 of the type made by the mechanism above described. This is a sheet which can be doubled at its center, or in other words, folded over on itself, and seamed along the edges to form a bag with an open bottom 36. The profile strips are located so that when the bag is doubled over, they are within the bag, as shown in FIG. 3. Also attached to the sheet 30 are reinforcing strips 32 and 33 which have aligned ribs extending therealong, and these ribs will guide the tear formed in the bag when the top is torn off. In order to use the bag, the top will be torn off to leave flanges so that the interlocking rib and groove elements may be pulled apart.

The film sheet 30 may be formed of thin plastic or may be a lamination having several layers. For example, the inner layer 30a may be of thin plastic film and the outer layer 30b may be of foil or paper or other material which provides stiffness or other properties to the bag. While the example of FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrates a sheet with profile strips 31 and 34 and also reinforcing strips 32 and 33, it will be understood that the mechanism of FIG. 1 may be utilized to apply various types of strips, such as profile strips alone.

I claim as my invention:

it. A method of forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon comprising:

means supplying a continuous sheet of plastic film,

training said film over the surface of a heated roller,

continuously heating the roller to a predetermined temperature,

extruding a heated continuous plastic strip having a precision shaped fastener profile on the outer surface,

moving the position of the extruder in a direction laterally of the direction of film movement so that the heated strip is applied to a precise location on the heated film while the film is on the roller with its inner surface contacting the film,

further moving the position of the extruder toward or away from the roller for adjusting the time of exposure to ambient air thereby controlling the temperature at which the extruded strip reaches the roller and is attached to the film,

transporting the film and attached extruded strip away from said roller,

and at a point substantially spaced from said roller blowing a jet of air selectively against the outer surface of said strip and limiting the jet of air to contact with the strip for accelerated cooling of the strip relative to the film.

2. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 1:

including extruding a second heated continuous plastic strip having a different shaped profile on the outer surface thereof, and

positioning an extruder for the second strip so that the heated strip is applied to the heated film on the roller adjacent the first strip with its inner surface contacting the film.

3. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 2:

including applying a tear strip means between the profile strips on the roller.

4. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 1:

including further cooling the strip independently of the sheet after said roll by blowing a second jet of air after the first jet of air. 

1. A METHOD OF FORMING A SHEET WITH A SHAPED PROFILE STRIP MEANS LAMINATED THEREON COMPRISING: MEANS SUPPLYING A CONTINUOUS SHEET OF PLASTIC FILM, TRAINING SAID FILM OVER THE SURFACE OF A HEATED ROLLER, CONTINUOUSLY HEATING THE ROOLER TO A PREDETERMINED TEMPERATURE, EXTRUDING A HEATED CONTINUOUS PLASTIC STRIP HAVING A PRECISION SHAPED FASTENER PROFILE ON THE OUTER SURFACE, MOVING THE POSITION OF THE EXTRUDER IN A DIRECTION LATERALLY OF THE DIRECTION OF THE FILM MOVEMENT SO THAT THE HEATED STRIP IS APPLIED TO A PRECISE LOCATION ON THE HEATED FILM WHILE THE FILM IS ON THE ROOLER WITH ITS INNER SURFACE CONTACTING THE FILM, FURTHER MOVING THE POSITION OF THE EXTRUDER TOWARD OR AWAY FROM THE ROLLER FOR ADJUSTING THE TIME OF EXPOSURE TO AMBIENT AIR THEREBY CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH THE EXTRUDED STRIP REACHES THE ROLLER AND IS ATTACHED TO THE FILM, TRANSPORTING THE FILM AND ATTACHED EXTRUDED STRIP AWAY FROM SAID ROLLER, AND AT A POINT SUBSTANTIALLY SPACED FROM SAID ROLLER BLOWING A JET OF AIR SELECTIVELY AGAINST THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID STRIP AND LIMITING THE JET OF AIR TO CONTACT WITH STRIP FOR ACCELERATED COOLING KKOF THE STRIP RELATIVE TO THE FILM.
 2. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 1: inCluding extruding a second heated continuous plastic strip having a different shaped profile on the outer surface thereof, and positioning an extruder for the second strip so that the heated strip is applied to the heated film on the roller adjacent the first strip with its inner surface contacting the film.
 3. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 2: including applying a tear strip means between the profile strips on the roller.
 4. A method for forming a sheet with a shaped profile strip means laminated thereon in accordance with the steps of claim 1: including further cooling the strip independently of the sheet after said roll by blowing a second jet of air after the first jet of air. 